New Hampshire Statesman And Concord Register

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS.

THE USE OF REASON IN MATTERS OF RELIGION.

Be not backward or afraid, my brethren, to make use of your reason in matters of religion, or where the scriptures are concerned. They both of them proceed from the same God and Father of us all, who is the giver of every good and every perfect gift. They cannot, therefore, be contrary to one another, but must mutually illustrate and enforce one another.

Besides, how can we distinguish one scheme of religion from another, so as to give the preference to that which is the most deserving of it, but by the help of our reason and understanding? What would you yourselves say to a Mahometan, whom you would persuade to abandon the imposture of Mahomet and embrace Christianity, but bid him use his reason, and judge, by the help of it, of the manifest difference between the two religions, and the great superiority of yours to his?

Does not God himself appeal to the reason of man, when he condescends to ask us, "whether his ways be not equal?" Does not the apostle exhort us that "in understanding we be men?" Are we not expressly commanded to "prove all things," and then "hold fast that which is good?"

Also when we are commanded to "search the scriptures," more must be meant than merely reading them, or receiving implicitly the interpretations of others. Searching must imply an earnest endeavor to find out for ourselves, and to understand the truths contained in the scriptures; and what faculty can we employ for this purpose, but that which is commonly called reason, whereby we are capable of thinking, reflecting, comparing, and judging of things?

Distrust, therefore, all those who decry human reason, and who require you to abandon it, wherever religion is concerned. When once they have gained this point with you, they can lead you whither they please, and impose upon you every absurdity which their sinister views may make it expedient for them that you should embrace. A popish priest would require nothing more than this, to make you believe the doctrine of transubstantiation, and that a man is infallible; or to persuade you to commit the most flagrant wickedness, as a means of "doing God service."

For the first of these articles they do not fail to urge the words of scripture, which expressly say, concerning the bread that is used in the Lord's supper, that it "is the body of Christ;" and there is no possibility of replying to them, but by appealing to reason, as the necessary and proper judge of the sense of scripture.

The papist, therefore, as might well be expected, is forward, on all occasions, to vilify human reason, and to require men to abandon it; but true protestants will not part with it. It is by the help of reason, in conjunction with the scriptures, that we guard ourselves against the gross delusions of the papists, who, after relinquishing reason, have been made to believe a lie; and by the diligent and continued use of the same power, let us endeavor to combat every remaining error, and trace out and reform every corruption of Christianity, till we hold the pure "truth as it is in Jesus," and "obey it in the love thereof."

Do not think that, by recommending the use of reason, I am about to decry the scriptures. My appeal shall be to both, upon every subject on which I address you; and I think you cannot but see that the plainest and most obvious sense of the scriptures is in favor of those doctrines which are most agreeable to reason. A good man will rejoice to see them thus go hand in hand, mutually illustrating and enforcing one another.